CAMPAIGN PLANNING FORM GM: Geoffrey Elder Date:

Campaign name: Bard of Avon Academy Starting year: 2019 Rate game time passes:
Genre: Realistic or cinematic? Are there multiple planes of existence? Yes: Death,
Ethereal, Astral, Fairy
General theme of campaign: Light-hearted boarding school adventure with a hidden darkness

Campaign Background
Campaign’s base city, nation, empire, or planet: (Suggestion: provide a map.) Off the coast of California in a San
Francisco like
Society/government type: Caste based on year and position Control Rating: 3 Exceptions to general CR:
Damage & Mind Control
Tech level: 8 Exceptions to general TL:
Brief description of important neighboring powers, political/economic situation, etc.: Class Houses based on Year and
Value System

Suggested or required reading for players:

Information for PCs

Starting point value allowed for PCs: 20 Disadvantage limit: 40
Especially useful/useless character types:

(Suggestion: provide character templates.)

Especially appropriate/inappropriate professions: No professions

(Suggestion: provide job descriptions.)

PC races allowed: Human, Jotun, Mer-ling, Troll-ling, Aos Si, Veela
(Suggestion: provide racial templates.)
Starting wealth: $50 Mundane $150 Magical (after base supplies) Starting Wealth levels allowed: Up to Comfortable
Starting Status levels allowed: -1 to +2 Starting TLs allowed: 5-
8
Languages available: All Earth Languages
Cultural Familiarities available: Mundane Cultures, Magical Cultures, each race (not just pc races)
Required advantages, disadvantages, and skills: Patron 14- at 200%
Especially appropriate or inappropriate advantages, disadvantages, and skills:

Appropriate Patrons (and base value): Parents at a 6- at 250%

Appropriate Enemies (and base value):

Special Abilities Allowed for PCs

•Exotic/supernatural traits: A single alternate form or human morphing. Hermaphromorph. Speaking an animal
tongue (more requires a 10 point
Unusual Background.
•Cinematic skills:

•Are PC mages allowed? General mana level: Low outside of school, High at School Do areas of
higher/lower mana exist? Yes
Are any of the spells from Chapter 5 off limits? NO NECROMANCY SPELLS
•Are PC psis allowed? No Are any of the powers from Chapter 6 off limits?
•Are PC gadgeteers allowed? Yes Are there special limits on gadgeteering? Requires Thaumatology as well
as Engineering
•Unusual Background cost(s) for these abilities:
•Legal or social restrictions on these abilities: Social restrictions are magics that are beyond “spot on the wall.”

Other Notes
Book 1 optional rules or variants (advantages, disadvantages, skills, etc.): Thaumatology has a TL value. You can add
another TL for 3 points each. The TL value has no effect on magic (except tech magic). Familiarity rules from Back to
School. Using a text book gives temporary Familiarity after spending ten times the length of spell casting (good for
five minutes after reading).
Book 2 optional rules or variants (success rolls, combat, injury, etc.): Low mana areas have a penalty based on
“average” TL-3, not -5

This form, those on the following pages, the Character Sheet, and other GURPS forms and
support material may also be downloaded at www.sjgames.com/gurps/resources/.

Races
Aos Si – The children of a Sidhe and a Human. Sometimes called a Sith. They are often lucid
dreamers, and dreamwalking is often one of their earliest abilities, but not all. They tend to see
everything as real, especially the unreal (Luna Lovegood could easily have been one).

Jotun – Males are incredibly strong, dull-witted and brutish. Though

they can control the berserker rage of their forebears to a level of mild
annoyance, they are still seen as lesser beings. The females are prized
for their beauty and their calm serenity in the presence of beasts
(sometimes the only thing that can calm a male Jotun) and are often
seen as nothing more than a piece of property.

Mer-ling – Usually the child of a human and a

merfolk, there are some who are the children of
nymphs and they are exceedingly beautiful on the
level of the Veela and a much rarer are they the
child of a human and a cecaelian. Mer-lings often
live by the sea, unable to be far from ocean water
(unless of the fresh water nymph variety).

Troll-ling – Tied to the earth, the Troll-lings are as close to being an elemental that a human can
be. They are essentially rock made flesh for lack of a better understanding. They are also noble in
their own way, rushing in where angels fear to tread.

Significant Events
Edgar Cayce – No matter how hard he tried, he never could find Atlantis. The Merfolk kept telling him it didn't exist,
sadly he refused to believe him. Of course, this caused the honor of the Merfolk to be called into question. For
decades, there was animosity between the believers and the Merfolk. It wasn't until the Mundanes started looking and
deep sea skirmishes with the Merfolk brought the search to a halt.

World War II – Hitler, everyone knows him. Everyone despises him except for a small handful of his worshipers.
His focus on discovering artifacts, learning the means by which to conquer every corner of the world. Fortunately, he
was a Mundane so had no magical ability of his own. Instead he found ways to convince the magical people around
him to do his bidding. There are many who to this day wish to finish his work. Steal the magic from those who have it
and give it to themselves.

McCarthy and Hoover – Hoover was a wizard of small talent whose pride allowed him to be led and controlled by a
younger Mundane named Joseph McCarthy. Together, they spearheaded the House Un-American Activities Committee.
They were the new witch hunt in America. Witches and Wizards were rounded up for merely knowing the simplest of
spells. Adult and children would be brought before the House and made to explain their actions and prove their
loyalty to American and Mundanes. It was nearly thirty years before the repurcussions of this would be abated.

New Enlightenment – Some say it was the Age of Aquarius, others say it was just the right time, and still others say
it was good hard work that brought forth the New Enlightenment. Whatever it was, technology, magic and equal rights
began to shine. There was prosperity for all in the United States and much of Europe. Asia and the South East
prospered, the idea of a Third World Nation changed to that being anywhere there was a revolution happening which
meant Central America and parts of the African interior. The blending of magic and technology was on the rise and the
Magical peoples were finding it easier to work magic in places of technological advancement. For nearly a decade,
there was peace, prosperity and a golden age.

The Thule – No one knows how it happened. No one knows who brought him back to life, but the Thule returned.
Fear gripped the world. Hitler was back, resurrected. The fear returned as did the hatred and animosity that he
sowed. But it wasn't the same, it was subdued. There was no great war. There was nothing to suggest this was really
Hitler. Some were claiming he was merely a clone set up by his followers, very few of which were Magical, even fewer
were effective. Though this new Hitler was watched, he never did more than become a pundit. He died of coronary
heart failure in 1998. The body was burned.

9/11 – No changes except that Magicals were there on site aiding and assisting. Though there was some division, in
the US, this was the first time the Mundanes and Magicals were in complete agreement. This was the beginning of the
unity between Mundanes and Magicals.

Modern Day – The world is pretty simple. There is talk of a new golden decade, but it is too soon to be certain. The
adults of the world are either screaming at each other or ignoring the world around them seeking only to be left alone.

Bard of Avon Academy

School Grounds
Isle of Avon – The island sits six miles south of Santa Cruz in Monterey Bay. As such, the island is approachable by
ferry. Though the island is in a high traffic area, it exists in a state between Earth and Fairy, a ring of fog that naturally
occurs four times a year there is a fog bank that protects the island. Guarding the island are the Caomhnóirí na
Todhchaí, an order of Sidhe knights tasked with the protection of the future of all peoples.

On the southwest side of the island is a bridge that extends to the horizon. It is said that it leads to Tir na Nogth, but
no student has been able to traverse it even though the Sidhe regularly do so. There is an archway at the island side
of the bridge with an inscription that though visible is protected by a charm to make it untranslatable except for those
with “the Gift,” but said gift seems different for everyone.

Surrounding the campus proper is a thick forest. Tradition holds that each student will have a tree in the Great Forest
planted in their name. The tree can indicate the health and well being of the student whose name it bears. Within the
forest live various sylvan races, centaurs, fauns, nymphs, etc. who inhabit the village of Sidhylvannia which is
surrounded by a stone henge.

Campus – Oberon Hall is the largest building on the campus. It holds all the professors' office, is the administration
building and also holds the dining hall. The six dorms surround Oberon Hall in an equidistant circle. Just beyond the
dorms are the instruction halls. Between the campus and the forest are the various sports fields. Each building is
adorned with gargoyles which actually do come to life at night and stand guard.

The Bay – Though the island is in Monterey Bay in the physical realm, in Faerie the island is in Llyn Dysgu or the Bay
of Learning. Various aquatic creatures make their home in the bay. Merfolk, kelpies, and various others live beneath
the surface of the water making their homes in the grottoes and coral of the area. There is a region near the pier that
is sectioned off and considered safe. The sea folk have no jurisdiction there but are still allowed a presence.